An interview carried out by mountainbiking.ie and one Shimano user.

When did you first try Shimano?

I have been a user now for about twenty three years. I was introduced to shimano by friend when I was about thirteen. At that age I didn’t know any better. I hadn’t a chance. Back in the 80’s it was new to the Irish market and people didn’t know much about it. Most of it came from the UK but it originated in Japan. The Japanese market was flooded with it. Europe at the time was more used to a less harmful groupset from Italy. Campagnolo had been around for a long time and was actually considered safe to use. I remember my dad even talking about it quite openly. Little did I know I was later to have a brush with campagnolo too.

What got you started on Shimano?

At first it wasn’t so serious. I needed a back deraileur and I had enough money at the time to buy something other than a huret sachs. My friend advised me that I should try the Shimano. He didn’t realise what he was doing. He had been a campagnolo user for years and had no real problem but he had heard that Shimano was just as good and was a little cheaper. So upon his advice I bought a Shimano-600ex. It was so light – I didn’t think such a light thing could do any harm. The polished aluminium was seamless. I could fit it in the front pocket of my Levi’s without any disomfort. I went home and fitted it. As soon as it was on the bike I couldn’t take my eyes off it. The rest of the bike looked old and worn. People noticed it too. New deraileur Dunner?, they would say. But I was already needing more. 

When did it become a problem for you?

The next time I would try it was when I needed a new block. Blocks are a thing of the past now as cassettes dominate the market. I went again for Shimano-600. Then the front deraileur, then the chainset, then the brakes, the gear leavers then the hubs. Bit by bit it took more of a hold. I was an addict at the age of thirteen. 

Then something happened. A car crash. The bike was destroyed and would have to be replaced. I spent a month in hospital and was given morphine for the pain. It was no use though I needed Shimano. This time it had to be Dura-Ace. I was an addict. When I recovered I started working as a bicycle courier during the summer. It payed fairly well and gradually I built up an entire groupset of Shimano Dura-Ace. There was one other Dura-Ace user in my school he is still heavily using Shimano.

How did you stop using Shimano?

I eventually weaned myself off the Shimano. Somewhere deep within, I had the strength. What helped me was a switch from road biking into mountain biking. Mountain biking was less pureist. Groupsets were mixed. The components were less refined they were bulkier and slightly less appealing. Of course there would be Shimano mixed in but nothing like pure Dura-Ace. My self esteem improved and I met my wife. We now have two fantastic children.

What do you think of Shimano replacements?

The millennium  brought in a new wave of components. The United States and Europe were becoming concerned at the level of Shimano addiction. Shimano Replacement Addictive Methodone or SRAM originated from the huret sachs camp and is being introduced as a substitute to the stronger Shimano. The experts felt that if they weaned people off the Shimano using SRAM, they could control the addiction, but it too appears to be taking hold in the entire peleton. The winner of this years Giro was a self confessed SRAM user. It’s becoming socially acceptable now to use SRAM and for some it’s the component of choice. At least with Shimano you could rely upon it – it was clean. With SRAM, who knows what you are actually going to get?

What would you say to someone who is thinking of trying Shimano?

My advice for anyone out there is to stay away. These components are incredibly addictive especially to teenagers. It was once though that a Campagnolo component was ok here or there but it acts as a gateway to stronger lighter components such as SRAM and Shimano. I am fairly clean now but I have never fully gotten off the Shimano. It’s something I have to live with. I still use Shimano hubs and pedals on a regular basis. I have tried SRAM but it made me nauseous. Campagnolo is fine, it is obviously good quality and, I have used entire chorus groupset, but it doesn’t give you the same buzz. I don’t think I will ever be totally free of  Shimano – its part of who I am now. All I can do is take one step at a time.

For Shimano Addiction advice please log onto www.mountainbiking.ie

Daragh talks openly about his struggle with his addiction to shimano

I love the weekends. The opportunity to spend that extra hour in bed. The fact that you can take a full hour to eat your breakfast and have two cups of coffee instead of one, sets me up for the day. Then there is the opportunity to get your leg over – The bike I mean. So last weekend was a long one, which made it all the better, except for one problem; whether to put on the SPD’s or leave on the flat pedals.

It’s the age old problem that all mountain bikers face. The tear between the head and the heart. Your head tells you that you can’t afford to fall on that left arm again but the heart tells you that you need that extra control (so you can go for it!). I was getting the bike ready to put into the van and decided to put an extra bottle cage on because the weather was hot last weekend. I gave it a check over and was just about to put the tools away when my eye caught them. Those big black ugly flat pedals, laughing at me. I might as well have had stabilizers on the bike. I was ashamed.

What would the neighbours say? ‘There he goes’, they would think. ‘The big fat wus’. Even the trees would laugh at me I thought, and I had been on the receiving end of them before.

So off I went and dug out the clippies. I swore I wouldn’t use them again, but I just couldn’t help myself. The bike smiled at me, as I wound the tasty shimano’s onto the cranks. The other things were thrown into the toolbox with contempt. A warm feeling came over me. Once again I felt like a man. For this day I would be the Hoff. If only they made leather jackets for mountain bikers, I thought. The hairs on my chest curled as I sat on the saddle. To the mountain…

The bike and I were One that day. The japanese pedals had an air of zen about them. Perhaps they were purified in the shimano factory. Was this enlightenment? Was I buddha? Who was asking that question? Was the question being asked at all? As I wound my way around the trail I encountered many past lives. I could see myself in previous crashes, lying face down in gorse bush, feet still attached to the pedals. Crash after crash came to my all seeing eye feet and pedals welded together in each one. Could shimano be the cause of all suffering and endless rounds of birth and rebirth?

This must be the significance of non attachment, I thought. I was enlightened. This is what the buddha meant. To allow oneself to become attached by pedal or any other means would result in endless rounds of rebirth.

So be warned…